Graceland Medical
by SketchGal2
Summary: "In a different life we could have been doctors..." Hospital AU of sorts. Focuses on all of the characters at different points. Spoilers for all seasons including the new one when it starts.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Mike is a nurse…for now.

Today is his first day at Graceland Medical.

It was one of the newer, elite hospitals in the Long Beach area. A hospital that was so unlike any other… being that its employees were trained FBI agents, DEA and customs with everything in between working as nurses, doctors and everything in between. The place was funded and operated mostly by the government as well private donations from wealthy sponsors, although the patients always weren't wealthy. Getting a job as a nurse here, after especially graduating from the Academy, was a supernatural feat. Even moreso for doctors. Mike originally wanted to follow in the footsteps of being a doctor like his father and also work for the FBI like his grandfather. So this job was the best of both worlds in theory. However, he was led in the direction of nursing instead of being a doctor.

The pay was pretty great, from the rumors he's heard. Health care benefits were through the roof too. This place cost millions of dollars and only let a small handful of people work here. Not only that, the hospital allowed you to live and work here as there were several dorms on the other side of the hospital. Or in one of several condos with other housemates. Mike was hoping for that one. Especially the flophouse that was named after the hospital. He liked the idea of leaving work at work when going home for the day. For now though, he was told had to live in one of the hospital's living quarters.

He was supposed to report to the head doctor, Paul Briggs. But this place was like a huge, expensive sanitary maze he just couldn't find his way around in. Suddenly, a random blond woman, in nurse garb, ran right up to him when he stopped at a nearby door to catch his breath.

"Are you nurse Mike Warren?"

Mike looks around. "Um, yep."

"Please wait here for further instructions! Don't leave."

With that, she buzzed right off, calling over to another nurse further down the hall.

Okay…

How did she know who he was, and where he should have been waiting?

Nevermind. At least it was something better than wandering around aimlessly.

So Mike waited.

And waited for a good hour until he heard laughter slowly creeping up from behind him.

"Mike Warren, right?"

Mike turns around. His eyes takes in a guy with a military cut, about his height and weight, staring right back at him with a semi-serious expression on his face. He wore maroon scrubs, so Mike could guess he was a nurse too.

"Yeah," Mike replies. Hopefully this guy knew where Mike was supposed to go. He seemed friendly. Like a puppy almost-

"You wanna know how I know you're Mike Warren?" The guy asks. Mike tilts his head questioningly at this stranger. The guy had a smile on his face, pretty contagious enough that Mike couldn't help but smile back.

"Because I'm waiting where I was told to wait...And not to move?"

The guy rattles something off about Mike's scores. Rather in an impressed manner too. Mike laughs.

"You're not Paul Briggs are you?"

The guy looks surprised for a split second before looking at Mike with a serious visage. "What makes you think I'm not Briggs?"

"You sounded really impressed and a little envious with my Practicals score. Briggs got a higher score than me." Mike didn't man to boast, but yeah. Not Briggs. He's never seen the man's face before so-

The guy narrows his eyes at him at the accusation, and then his cocky demeanor deflates into a soft smile. He extends a hand and Mike happily shakes it. "I'm Tuturro. Everyone calls me Johnny though."

Mike looks at Johnny's ID pinned on his maroon scrubs. He finds that nowhere on it does it say the name 'Johnny'. It does say Tuturro. As well as having a photo of a serious face of the guy standing across from him-

And said guy is suddenly, literally dragging him off in another direction of the hospital.

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Mike exclaims, almost losing his suitcase after being grabbed.

"We gotta check in a few patients, but first we go to the flophouse to get you settled in," Johnny smiles, herding Mike along by the shoulders. They zigged-zagged through the almost crowded hospital, passing several doctors, nurses and a few regular federal agents. Mike didn't think a private hospital such as this would get crowded at any point and time with so many patients. He tried to stop and look but was tugged in another direction. "C'mon Mikey!" He smirks at the nickname and quickly realizes something.

"Wait, did you say flophouse? I thought I was supposed to stay here with the new-"

"Not anymore. Somebody pulled some strings somewhere to get you in there," Johnny answers, pushing Mike into the sunlight outside. "How's your Spanish?"

"My WHAT?!" Mike questions loudly. What the hell, he was supposed to learn Spanish?! Why did no one tell him?! "No one told me I had to-"

"Damn. That sucks," Johnny comments, leading the way down the steps and even further down the hill. The hospital sat on a grassy hill, surrounded by tall and short marble statues of extremely rich benefactors of the bureau and hospital collectively. Below it were shuttle buses going to wherever patients or doctors needed to go. The two walked past all of it, exiting out of the entrance gate to parts unknown to Mike.

They walked for a while, through a small town area, chatting pleasantly about random things. Johnny promises to lend him some of the Graceland's (the flophouse not the hospital's), language tapes. Apparently learning Spanish was very important while living here. He was instantly nervous about it.

"You're smart. You'll figure it out," Johnny compliments. "I'll help you if you-" He stops and stares at Mike every so often, laughing a little to himself. Mike was pausing where he was walking to scribble notes down in a notepad the entire way here.

"What?" Mike asks, stopping his writing to walk with Johnny again and pull his suitcase along. He decided back at the hospital Johnny was a cool guy. He was glad he had him to show him around and not some jerk or something.

"Nothing man," Johnny says, shaking his head while hiding a smile. Mike wonders what was so funny, but he lets it go.

They finally reach a beachfront. Families were around, shops, a few apartments or condos and basically anything a small beach city in L.A would have. Mike supposed it was nice to have a hospital so close to a beach. It was lovely really. Their walk lasted about twenty minutes when they neared a particularly large building. Mike looked up at it in admiration.

"Is that-?" The place was huge. Beautiful, but also identical to other surrounding condos. Johnny stopped in front of a door, so Mike jogged up to him.

"Yep," Johnny answers. He pulls out a key from his pants pocket to insert in the front door. He opens it, stepping in.

"Welcome to Graceland!"

* * *

Shiny new series I've had in mind of starting. Completely different from the "I Put a Spell on You" universe/series I have. Thank you for reading~

Please review and let me know what you guys think~

Bye :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Mike starts trailing along on Johnny's tail, as soon as Johnny took off like a bolt of lightning when they entered the house.

"You're with me, working under Briggs. Charlie's another nurse working with us. The other doctors we'll also be around are Jakes and Paige but they work under DEA and Customs. Lauren's in internal affairs, along with Donny back at the hospital. There are some other people but they don't matter right now-"

"Was Donny the one who-?"

"Got shot, yeah."

"How is he?"

Mike heard about him from his counselor at school before he arrived here. He was supposed to be taking his place. It seemed awkward though. He was already the new guy, but with the addition of taking another guy's place who seemed to be well liked. It was extremely awkward. Mike had no choice but to make do though.

"He's alive. It was just so crazy around here that day. We weren't exactly expecting someone coming in here with a gun looking for revenge and drugs. The undercover work plan was full-proof," Johnny continues. His looks so forlorn, but holding back a bit. Mike's heart went out to him and the rest of his friends.

Mike heard rumors about the undercover work too. Most doctors or nurses trained under the FBI, or the DEA and even Customs had to do undercover work on top of their medical duties. It was almost a rarity that said doctors or nurses actually had to put their specific undercover training to use while at the hospital or any other hospital for that matter. Things could get messy quick if someone recognized you, even if plans were in place. Mike was trained for such things too, but he wasn't sure he'd actually have to put it to use. He was told he'd find out once meeting with Briggs.

"I'll show you your room."

Mike quietly follows Johnny up a short flight of stairs, looking around when he could…when he wasn't being dragged by his literal collar. He didn't mind that much. It felt really familiar in the way Johnny interacted with him. As if he knew him already. Mike didn't know why. Maybe it was just in Johnny's personality to make whomever he met feel at home.

Yeah that had to be it.

"That's the phone room-Only answer in whatever language it says on the bottom. Okay?" Johnny says, giving a quick glance behind himself at Mike.

A phone room? So they had to be undercover sometimes here too. "I don't really know any-"

"Didn't I tell you not worry about it? I got you, Mike." Mike can only look at him wide eyed and slightly embarrassed. "And over here-"

Johnny leads the way to a small walk area, encircled with rooms and another flight of stairs below. Mike presumes they led to the kitchen or the next exit. This place was more beautiful and huge than he originally thought.

"-Are our rooms. Yours is over there, where Donny used to be."

Mike looks around. "Oh-But where's-"

The door Johnny indicated to earlier burst open and there stood a really sleepy, disheveled man. He was a bit taller than Mike and Johnny. He wore an untucked shirt, wrinkled pants, but a white lab coat slung haphazardly on his shoulder.

"Yo!," Johnny greets. "Got your guy here!"

"How's it going Johnnyboy?" The guy finally says, yawning over the last word. He blinks sleepily at Mike. "And hmm."

Mike's eyes widen again as he takes in the form of the guy in front of him. He steps up to him, partly nervous, and partly confident as he extends a hand.

"You're Doctor Briggs huh?! Pleasure to meet you sir!" He ignores the snicker coming from the peanut gallery behind him. "I'm ready to start!"

Briggs looks down at Mike's hand and bumps his elbow against his into instead.

"Excellent."

….huh?

"So um-I'm ready to start…sir." Mike repeats, looking at his new leader expectantly. He hears Johnny's muffled laughter from behind him, but he ignores him again.

"Didja show him the chore wheel?" Briggs asks in Johnny's direction. Mike looks between the two. He couldn't believe, the man, the myth and _the_ legend was standing a few feet away from him. He gets to stay in the same house as him too?!

Who or what pulled these strings anyway? Mike owes them one gigantic thank you.

"That's one of our last stops," Johnny offers lightheartedly. "On this grand tour of Graceland."

Briggs gives him a tired wan look. "So not yet huh?" he shakes his head sadly, lifting up a carton of milk out of nowhere.

Johnny and Mike just watch him chug the carton dry. One is amused, the other in awe for some reason.

"Later," Briggs sniffs, leaving their immediate area. Mike sees that he slightly stumbles on his way downstairs. To where exactly, Mike isn't sure but he's almost positive Johnny doesn't know either.

Mike does however have to ask, "Was he sleeping in my room?"

"It's best not to ask too many questions. About Briggs I mean. Didn't you just learn that?"

"So _that_ was Doctor Briggs?" Mike questions in awe after a minute.

"Slash Federal Agent, yeah," Johnny replies. He chews the side of his lip, eying Mike in a serious manner. "You almost pissed yourself from excitement just now didn't you?"

"What?! No. Why would I-!?" Mike sputters. He was excited to meet the guy but c'mon on now.

Right?

Johnny laughs as he claps him on the back, which causes Mike to deflate a bit.

"I'm just messin' with you man! Put your stuff away. We can grab somethin' to eat before we go back to the hospital. I'll wait for you downstairs. Okay?"

Mike grunts in agreement, taking hold of his suitcase's handle. He walks on to his room just as Johnny jumps down the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Hey Mikey, know what this is?"

Mike takes his bowl of cereal with him as he follows Johnny into the living room.

Johnny walks to a pillar, covered with various pictures. The thing Johnny is pointing to in particular is a large wheel with various names, pictures and words written or posted on it. A red arrow is pinned in the center of it.

"Is this the chore wheel I've heard so much about?"

"You got it. See, I knew you were smart. Had me worried there for a second," Johnny teases.

Mike snorts as a reply before taking a bite of his cereal. He mock glares at Johnny.

"What about those Spanish language tapes I've also been hearing so much about?"

"In due time brother, in due time. Be patient bro," Johnny squints at him, with a mischievous glint in his eyes that Mike doesn't trust. Johnny was a great guy, yep.

But did this guy love to troll. Mike needed to watch out for him definitely.

But no not really. He was kinda harmless…

But then again-

"That's some good cereal right?" Johnny suddenly asks, wrapping an arm about Mike's shoulders. Their temples knock together slightly. Mike is just getting used to Johnny's… grabby-ness. Or whatever his apparent need was to hang off of Mike was called. It was okay.

It did seem like he was lonely though. Or bored. Maybe both.

Mike chews his cereal for a bit. "Mhm."

"Ready to go?" Johnny asks right after. He's practically bouncing where he stands. Mike chuckles a bit to himself at Johnny's display of impatience.

He chews and slurps down the rest of his cereal. "Done." He makes his way to the kitchen but Johnny steps in front of him.

"Nah, just leave it here," Johnny exclaims, taking Mike's bowl and placing it down on a nearby coffee table. "Let's go!"

~~~g-r-a-c-e-l-a-n-d~~m-e-d~~

Johnny and Mike walk through the hallway of the hospital at a somewhat slow pace. The hospital is a lot less full than when Mike arrived here earlier. Johnny begins to point out people to avoid when-

" _Johnny_!"

Johnny stops, turning in the direction of his name being called. A guy, a little shorter than Johnny and Mike, with long dreds in a ponytail, a white labcoat and a really pissed off look on his face came walking over to them.

Mike had to presume he was a doctor.

He extends a hand in the newest stranger's direction cheerfully. "You must be-"

"Stay away from my cereal and my milk," the guy states, pointing at Mike. Mike drops his hand in shock. "And you-"He's pointing at Johnny this time. "Get outta the way."

He storms off before either of them could respond.

Mike turns and looks at Johnny with an eye of suspicion. " _His_ cereal?"

"I don't know how he kne-I mean, what's he talking about?"

Mike glares at him and his feaux ignorance. "Was that Jakes?"

"Yeah, you ate his cereal. Shame on you."

"You gave me that cereal Johnny…You told me it was _yours_ man!"

"Chill _out_ bro, we're in a hospital!"

"Afternoon mi gente!" A voice calls out from behind them. Mike whips around to find a familiar face strolling over to them as if he had all the time in the world. This time he's wearing his doctor's coat correctly, crisply ironed pants and tucked in shirt. Well, a slightly tucked in shirt. Mike fishes out his notepad and pen as he draws closer to Johnny and himself.

"Dude, really?"

He decides not to respond to Johnny poking him repeatedly in the side.

"Sir?" Mike says, gazing at Briggs who bumps an elbow with Johnny in greeting. He reached out an elbow in Mike's direction for the second time today. Mike gives him a worn look before reciprocating the gesture.

"Mike Warren. Yes," Briggs says, as he pulls out a large file. "You'll be doing a round of vital checks for your first day. In the ER."

Mike looks at the while two narrowing his eyes. What?

"Is there really an ER in this place, while running a private practice? Isn't that… _impossible_?" He feels like he's being trolled again.

"Those certainly are the right questions. But-" Mike's near smile drops. "Unfortunately, you're asking them at the wrong time, to the wrong person," Briggs says, looking at Mike with a lazy expression of pity.

To save face, Mike scribbles a note in his notepad. He can feel Johnny and Briggs' eyes on him.

"And, you can write this down in that notepad of yours. Change your pants and shirt. Sorry buddy, no streetwear on my floor. You can change over there-"

"I haven't had the chance to grab my scubs, sorry," Mike interrupts. He knew he was forgetting something. Dammit Johnny. "I'll go back to the house and-"

"No time for that. Take him to the lost and found would ya Johnny? The Drop isn't open this early."

"Can't right now, gotta take some meds to the Psych ward. Sorry Mikey!" Johnny takes hold of some paperwork before dashing off down a hallway. Mike felt immediately lonely but pushed through it anyway.

"I can find it," Mike offers. Briggs gives him an unreadable expression in return.

"You sure? Didn't you get lost here earlier today?"

Mike stops in his tracks to gape at Briggs. How did he know?

He quickly fixes his face, not wanting his mentor to ruffle his feathers AND know it at the same time.

Again.

"I can find it," Mike presses again. He watches Briggs' visage change a few times before settling on something like muted surprise.

"Okay go. It's on the fifth floor," Briggs answers. He sits on top of a nearby desk. "No rush. But you do have patients."

"Got it," Mike nods. He sprints off to the nearest elevator. One opens and Mike quickly steps in.

It's just the Lost and Found.

How hard could it be to find anyway?


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Your new boy ate my cereal," Briggs hears a familiar voice grumble from behind him. He turns around from talking with the brunette nurse, hiding a smile as he faces his new visitor.

It had been about twenty minutes and Mike hadn't made another appearance. Briggs was still waiting for the guy at the same place, which was one of the nurses' stations.

"That's a damn shame," Briggs replies, shaking his head sadly.

"New guy's here?" the nurse pipes. She rolls the spinning chair she's sitting in, away from the desk and over to Jakes. She leans into Jakes' side, resting and arm around his waist. "What's he look like?"

Jakes ignores them and tries to walk away but the nurse pulls him back anyway. Briggs snorts at the display.

"Never mess with a man and his cereal," Briggs teases. Jakes rolls his eyes, while the nurse looks confusedly at the doctors.

"Do I even wanna ask?"

"I've got somewhere to be," Jakes says, looking at the two. The nurse doesn't look like she believes him, but Briggs knows better.

"Yeah sure, see ya," Briggs nods. As long as he's know him, Briggs has always respected Jakes' self-starting nature. He's a fellow doctor that gets things done, save lives…Pretty good bedside manner when it counts. But, he's one guy that gets too uptight about things sometimes. The new guy and him could be kindred spirits for that reason alone, if not for the stolen breakfast property.

"See ya later tonight Jakesy!" the nurse calls out as Jakes makes his escape. Probably to do his rounds or hole himself up in his office. Briggs isn't sure at the moment because he turns his attention back on his favorite nurse staring off into space in deep thought.

"Hey, Chuck, weren't we talking about something-?" Briggs inquires. They were talking about more pressing issues than someone's cereal being kidnapped. Hell, Briggs took a carton of milk himself. And? It's replaceable.

"So this new kid, why haven't I seen him yet?" Charlie asks, settling back in her chair and crossing her arms.

"Gee Charlie, I don't know. He was around here just before you got here."

It was funny how they just missed each other. He got on the elevator and no more than five minutes later Charlie comes strolling in. Briggs was waiting for her to come back from her lunch break when he got caught up with Mike and Johnny.

Charlie ogles him with skepticism. "You didn't get him to do anything weird…did you?"

Briggs puts a hand over his heart. "Now, why would I do a thing like that?"

He isn't the least bit surprised by the hard stare Charlie gives him.

Briggs sighs. "Charlie, I just sent him to the lost and found. He didn't have his scrubs on. I can't have him walking around here looking like a civilian-"

"Oh, well… that should be easy-"

"But then again, I did see him wandering around here this morning, looking lost." And uptight, he wants to add again. Briggs spotted him before he went back to the house to go for his afternoon nap. Which was when they officially met.

Evidently, the kid needed to relax a little. So this mission was just the thing he needs.

"Paul!" Charlie exclaims in shock.

"The kid has to learn his way around here himself. That's the way things work."

Mike needed to find his way around, just like everyone else.

So again, this was the perfect little mission for him before they got to the really hard stuff.

Balancing work at a hospital along with undercover work was something that needed to be mastered.

"So you just stand there, and _watch him_ wander around? What's _the matter_ with you?! Why didn't you help him? You would've liked for someone to help you on your first day!"

Briggs shrinks a bit at the impromptu lecture.

Wow, Mama Bear's really upset about this huh? She doesn't even know the guy, and yet she's already on him like a mother hen. Briggs can see this is going to set a bad precedent for the other employees to see Charlie babying yet another co-worker.

"I'm gonna go find him-" Charlie gets up from where she sat, leaving Briggs standing stupefied for the first time in a long while. "Watch my stuff."

"Chuck, no-"

But, she's already walking to the elevator.

He's not going to chase after her.

Nope.

"Fifth floor amiright?!" Briggs thinks he hears her call out. Briggs is not at all sure she said 'fifth' because a screaming child came running in at that exact moment. Their parent looks at him apologetically before scurrying off with their child.

"Charlie, you don't even know what he looks like!" Briggs answers back, just as the doors of the elevator close.

He stands there feeling somewhat annoyed and a little disappointed in himself. He'd have to meditate on this later.

Where was that guy anyway?


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"You're a LIAR and a WHORE Amanda! I told you Johnny wanted to take me out, and here you are rubbing all over him!"

"Shut up Lisa! You knew I had a crush on him, and you still went out with him! You're the whore here!"

"Ladies please," Johnny pleads, from the sidelines. He's smart enough to know not to step directly in between two girls fighting, even though he's sorta the cause of it all.

This was a hospital, they had to be professional. Jeez.

"Johnny, tell this-" the nurse who was speaking earlier, named Lisa, gesticulates in disgust towards the other nurse's, Amanda, direction. Amanda, gasps in indignation as Lisa continues,"- _Person_ that you're going out with me tonight." She smiles snidely at Amanda and then sweetly in Johnny's direction. Johnny gulps and wonders what he ever saw in both of them.

Amanda stomps her foot as she mutters darkly, "No, Johnny, you tell HER that you asked me out first at The Drop and you-"

"Oh you liar!"

Johnny bites his lip, looking at the two women nervously.

Oh crap, how did things get this far-

He glances away from the two when a flash of someone passing by catches his eye.

"Yo Mike!" Johnny greets to the person happily. He's glad to see a friendly face. He didn't mind showing him around earlier. He'd prefer it to getting any paperwork done today. Also, meeting a new person around this place was nice. Although, Mike was a little serious, he reminded him of Jakes in that way, at least he had more a sense of humor. He felt close to him almost instantly.

Mike turns after hearing his name be called, glares in Johnny's direction and keeps on his trek at a faster pace.

Where was he going anyway? Lost and Found was two floors down. Johnny also notices Mike still had on his cardigan, pants and button down collar shirt from earlier. And not the standard nurse uniform like he was supposed to be in, like very nurse here.

He was lost again. Poor kid. Johnny should walk right over and show him-

"I know you hear me man!"

"Johnny-!"

"John…ny!"

"Choose one of us you bastard!"

Johnny ignores the shouts and cries of his name being cursed. He'll have to deal with them later.

"Need some help?" Johnny asks, keeping up with Mike's speed-walking while leaving Amanda and Lisa behind. Why is he walking so fast anyway, who's he running away from-?

"No. Thanks," Mike answers flatly. Johnny can't get over how he's avoiding eye contact with him. And the testy attitude-

Oh.

Johnny feels himself frown a little bit. "You aren't mad about earlier are you? The thing with Jakes' cereal?"

"No. I forgot my scrubs remember? And thanks for telling me by the way."

Johnny bites his lip to keep from laughing. This guy was funny and was waaaay too easy to mess with. That unhidden slash hidden sarcasm only fuels his fire really. Although, he did feel instantly protective of him at the same time. Weird. He did try telling him about his scrubs though. That part wasn't his fault. Just the thing with Jakes' cereal and milk.

"Dude, I tried to tell you earlier. But you were too busy drooling all over Briggs." Briggs was a great guy, Johnny had to admit. He had to also admit that he'd never seen someone go that weak in the knees over Brigg when they first meet him…except for women, and now Mike when they first met earlier back at the house.

It was hilarious.

Mike stops abruptly to turn around and face Johnny. He's halfway between a sarcastic laugh and a snarl. Whoa.

The expression leaves his face so quick that Johnny also misses it.

Mike puts on a somewhat sincere expression as he says, "Sorry but, no. I wasn't _drooling_ over Briggs. And no you didn't try to tell me."

Johnny snorts, while rolling his eyes at the ceiling.

Yeah okay. Johnny knows what he saw.

"You don't know what this means-?" Johnny challenges, as he starts poking Mike in the side repeatedly. He doesn't stop when realization hits Mike's face.

Serves him right.

"Ow, okay! Fine, I should've listened."

Johnny ceases his poking, and claps Mike on the back instead. "I know. Listen to your boss next time."

"You're not my boss," Mike mutters, breaking into a smile. Johnny smiles along with him and feels relieved.

That won't stop him from messing with him later however.

So, for now it's a timeout.

"We cool?" Johnny asks, holding out a fist in Mike's direction, in sincerity.

"Yeah," Mike confirms, connecting the distance with his own fist, almost instantly.

…Wait a minute.

"Alright, let's go back downstairs. I knew you'd be lost without me," Johnny boasts, wrapping an arm around Mike's shoulders. But-

Huh.

Johnny felt a weird feeling of dejavu just now. Yeah, he did the gesture earlier, but-

Like another time, even before that-

As if they've met before-?

…..

Nah.

"Sure," Mike replies, rolling his eyes, and leaning away from Johnny. Johnny just snickers again, but the weird twinge of dejavu he felt earlier doesn't go away. In fact, it felt more prominent when Mike just answered him.

Johnny shakes away the feeling and keeps on with his adventure of the day, with Mike keeping in step beside him.

~~~g-r-a-c-e-l-a-n-d~~m-e-d~~

Johnny leads him to the Lost and Found, two floors down from where they were previously. It's a small alcove with a few nurses milling about. The two eventually dive right into the line.

Johnny rubs his shaven head impatiently as they wait. Must be a lot of people out of uniform today or something.

He's glad when he and Mike are at the front, facing a well-known clerk of the hospital.

"How can I help you-Heyy Johnny! Forgot your scrubs again man?"

"Nah, not for me man," Johnny answers back. "My guy here needs a pair of scrubs. Just one set please. Any hanging around?"

Johnny glances back at Mike, hoping he doesn't mind him asking for him. Doesn't seem like it.

The clerk disappears in the back but immediately pops up again just holding a maroon shirt with the hospital logo on it.

"Here's the shirt. But the only pants left are these," the clerk informs them, indicating towards a box of lone jeans. Levi jeans to be exact.

Johnny can't hold himself back from chuckling even as Mike looks crestfallen at the clothing. How random. No regular pants for scrubs around. Only those. Who lost those anyway?

"I'll just keep mine-"

"Oh no," the clerk divulges, with a bright smile. "You're _loco_ if you keep those on. These are standard issue if you don't have the right uniform pants on."

Mike looks hopelessly back at the pants and then at Johnny.

Johnny shrugs. "At least it's something man. You don't want to get sent home early and your pay docked. Trust me."

That urges the guy enough to say, "Okay, I'll take them. Thank…Uh- _gracias."_

" _De nada_ ," the clerk smiles, handing over the jeans and the necessary shirt to complete the ensemble over to Mike. He then sighs, beginning to straighten up the counter. "Now I can go home to my wife."

"Oh, um how's-Katarina?" Johnny asks, looking at a nearby photo of the clerk and his wife. He knows the clerk somewhat personally. They talk every so often enough that Johnny knows a little about his family. He just keeps forgetting his name-

"No, that's her sister," the clerk corrects, but there's no malice in his tone.

"My bad," Johnny winces. Oops. Apparently his name too. Johnny glances over at Mike to find him staring off at the different rooms nearby. Time to go. "Seeya!"

"Adios!"

Johnny walks up to Mike, bumping his shoulder into his. "C'mon, you can go change over there," Johnny nods over to a bathroom.

Mike nods. "I'll be back." He disappears and almost on cue Briggs comes strolling from around the corner.

"'Sup," Johnny remarks in wonderment. Doesn't he have patients to take care of right now?

"You see Charlie round here?" Briggs queries, as he reaches Johnny. He's looking about distractedly, as Johnny shakes his head 'no'.

"Haven't seen her since before lunch. Why?" He hopes nothing is going on. Today hasn't been particularly busy, except for when Charlie disappeared for lunch and Johnny had to show Mike around at the last minute. Damn Briggs being lazy and sleeping in. Now he suddenly had time to wander around the hospital.

"She-Oh _hello nurse_ ," Briggs whistles as if he's one of the Warner brothers from a particular cartoon, when Mike exits from the bathroom. Johnny laughs at the look of embarrassment on Mike's face. Man, was he easy. Easy to troll and easy to read.

What a great guy.

Johnny could also see that Mike had his casual clothes folded up in his hands, as he came closer and the appropriate uniform on.

"So, now what?"

"They only had Levi's huh?" Briggs ribs, making Johnny laugh and Mike to look shy again. They weren't that bad, just a little out of place with the rest of their uniform. Oh well, better than the alternative Johnny would say and has said already. It's for only half a shift anyway.

"Alright, there you go-"Briggs places the files he held on top of Mike's clothes. "Your files on the three patients you need to check on. You may need them," Briggs continues, with an under layer of smarminess in his tone.

"Thank you si...thanks," Mike verbalizes, shifting the files to that they fit more safely in his arms along with his clothes. Johnny notices he's jogging in place somewhat, apparently raring to go. He remembers his first day. He was pretty excited too.

"Want a kiss for good luck?" Johnny asks, as Mike is about to leave. He makes sure his visage looks earnest. "It is your first day."

"From who?" Mike questions, eyes going wide. And looking as lost as he did when Johnny caught him walking around earlier while he was stuck in the middle of Lisa and Amanda.

Johnny goes wide eyed as well, not sure if Mike was joking along with him.

Awkward. He doesn't know what to guess as he shakes his head silently at Briggs, who was looking at them both curiously.

"Good question." The panic stricken look on Mike's face tells them all they needed to know.

Which was that another joke has gone right over the kid's head.

"…No," Mike answers slowly, finally understanding. He walks right off heading to the stairs instead of the elevator close by.

"He's gonna get lost again," Johnny sighs after a moment of watching him. Like a puppy lost in a park, and getting distracted by every person he sees instead of finding his owner or something. At least he had his uniform on.

"Mhm," Briggs agrees. Johnny doesn't see Briggs looking at him with confusion. "Johnny, you don't have to go-"

"Nah, he's my responsibility now," Johnny shrugs. Why'd he feel so attached to the guy so quickly?

Well, whatever.

"Mikey!" Johnny calls out, sprinting towards him with a smile on his face. "I know you hear me!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Yo Johnny!" Charlie calls out, striding over to him and a stranger. Both of him just stepped off the elevator a few feet away from her. Johnny, as usual with people he just met and likes, is hanging all over him. Typical.

Charlie made the unfortunate decision to go to the fourth floor, instead of wherever the Lost and Found was. It didn't matter though, because here was whom she was looking for all wrapped up in a nice package.

"You the new guy?" Charlie questions boldly, but she already knows the answer. He's a cute kid. She quirks an eyebrow at his staring at her and not answering.

"Mike," Johnny says, nudging him in the side unhelpfully.

"Let him answer by himself Johnny," Charlie says. She looks at Mike's hands. "That's all you brought? Where's your stuff?" She knew he was sent here last minute, but jesus. Only a sweater, pants and the sneakers he wore, were all he brought? She won't even get into the mismatched scrubs; Levi jeans and the hospital's shirt for nurses. The latter of which that was far too big for him. At least three sizes.

"Back at the house," Mike informs her stoically. He's still gazing at her a bit mystified.

"Yeah, I got him moved into Donny's room," Johnny pipes up excitedly. Charlie doesn't bother to warn him again. He's got himself excited, what's the point?

"Oh, Lauren's not gonna like that," Charlie sighs. Johnny nods in agreement.

"Um, I didn't mean to intrude ma'am-"

Polite and sweet too. Cute.

Although-

"I don't scare you do I?" Charlie examines, with a small curl of a smile. The guy was acting guarded…no reserved? She knows she has the habit of intimidating people at first meeting. She's a bit impressed when Mike smiles slyly back at her.

"No, do I scare you?" he inquires, with a sort gracefulness that throws Charlie off her game…only on a small scale though.

"No," she replies back softly, looking at him up and down again. She ignores the sound of Johnny trying to hide his amused giggle.

Yeah, Mike's hard not to like…so far. They lucked out with this one.

"Dude was drooling over Briggs earlier," Johnny declares, shaking his head in disbelief. Mike rolls his eyes and scoffs, while shrugging Johnny off his shoulder.

"No…no I wasn't. Alright?" he assures them both, however, he's looking directly into Charlie's eyes, with nervousness now. She grins back smugly. Funny too. Great.

"Yeah, he has that effect on people," Charlie admits. That's a story she'd keep to herself-

"Even you?" Mike wonders. Charlie is taken aback by the query. He'd seemed so shy before.

Huh, imagine that.

" _Especially_ her," Johnny whispers loudly, into Mike's ear while jutting a chin in Charlie's direction.

"I heard that Johnny," Charlie warns, narrowing her eyes at him. Big mouth. "Shoosh."

Mike looks intrigued but Charlie decides to change the subject. He seems too smart for his own good...maybe. She definitely needed to take him to meet Pai-

"Where to?" Charlie canvasses, starting to feel a bit restless. She notices the irritated look on Johnny's face as he tries to get eye contact with Mike again.

And so what? He's had the guy for _hours_. It was her turn now.

Something just felt right-

"I have to make my rounds," Mike says, holding up the folders in his arms. Charlie nods, glad to see Briggs hasn't overloaded him with too many patients on his first day. She still can't believe that he let Mike walk around the hospital by himself before sending Johnny after him. He was a lazy bum sometimes. She'd bet her next paycheck that he went home to take a nap in the late morning before being woken up by these two and appearing out of the blue at the hospital again. But he was a great doctor and friend nonetheless.

"Good. You'll never get there with Johnny at your side though," Charlie chides. She appreciates the knowing smile Mike throws in her direction, so she winks.

"Tch, that's messed up Charlie."

"I'm coming with you two before you get lost again," Charlie states in seriousness. That'll move things along. He obviously needed her help.

"Nah, Briggs is looking for you," Johnny says in annoyance.

"Is he?" Charlie grills, not believing him. This time she's looking at Mike for confirmation.

He shrugs so she flicks her eyes back at Johnny who was already pouting.

"How would he know? He was changing when Briggs asked about you," Johnny whines.

"Which floor?" Charlie asks wearily. She hopes he says the first floor, at the nurse's station towards the entrance because that's where she was headed-

"The fifth floor."

Charlie huffs in resignation. Now, she'd have to go up there. She left her cell at the desk because she thought Briggs would keep his ass there. She should've known better. He was another one who couldn't keep still sometimes. So much for getting to know Mike at little more. Oh well.

She'd have more time later.

Charlie crosses her arms, giving Mike a once over again. "So, they only had Levi's huh?"

"Yeah," Mike replies, ducking his head down. Johnny chortles, reaching over to ruffle Mike's hair.

"Dude, let's go!"

Charlie feels a prickling sense of pride when Mike dodges Johnny's outreached hand.

Even if it was only for the first few times.

"See ya later, at the house-" Charlie asserts gently, walking backwards in the opposite direction, keeping her eyes locked on Mike's pretty blues. Mike walks backwards as well, to where Johnny is dragging him, but keeping eye contact with her and grins. She tacks on, "Levi."

"-huh?" she hears him say in confusion, but she turns around pretending as if she didn't hear him.

Hah! At least she got to name him before anyone else.

Charlie doesn't bother to explain herself as she hops on the nearest elevator to find one of her favorite doctors of the hospital. And light his ass up for leaving her stuff unattended.

* * *

Triple update woot~

Beg pardon the ooc moments. I tried ._. lol

And thank you so much to the people reading and keeping up with this story and "Are we or Aren't we?"(Which I have to update next week, sorry for the delay) The introduction stuff for this story is almost over with, I promise. Then I'll get into the main arcs of the story. If you have any suggestions or just a general comment, please review and let me know~ Thanks and bye! :D


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Are you really a doctor?"

Mike gives a quick smile to the youngest patient he's had today, staring up at him. She sniffs her red nose briefly and then looks at her mother sitting in a nearby chair.

"Nope, I'm a nurse," Mike replies, settling her files down on a desk. He's happy she's his last patient in the ER today. The first two went well. One was an elderly patient with a fractured ankle, who gave Mike a pocketful of cinnamon candy for a job well done. Mike then made his way over to a patient who had to be prepped for routine appendix removal. They were really nervous and itching to leave the hospital but were somehow really polite about it. He'll have to check on them before he leaves.

"Okay, so any pain anywhere?" Mike asks, sitting at the edge of the desk. There is a pc sitting behind him with the hospital's network login splash page ghosting over the screen. He'll input the information on her computerized file later, along with the other patients he had earlier. At the moment, it was better for him to fill out the chart he had on hand.

Besides, he also had to unlock his account with Briggs' help. Wherever he was. He didn't know any other doctor around here except Jakes…but he was mad.

The little girl shakes her head, almost violently, from side to side. Mike nods and starts to write the information down when he hears;

"Oh! My nose hurts," she interrupts, before sniffing again. "And my stomach-and-"

"Annie honey, why didn't you tell the doctor that earlier?" the woman questions from her seat. She shakes her head apologetically in Mike's direction.

"Don't worry about it," Mike offers, crossing out the previous noes and writing in the correct ones instead. He smiles at Annie, who sniffs again. "Anything else?"

" _Annie_ -"

"It hurts when I cough-"

Coughs? He hasn't heard her cough since he's been in the room with her. It's been about ten minutes now?

Mike squints, writing more symptoms down as he asks, "Hurts what? Is it chest pain?"

"No, my tummy," Annie pouts, looking down.

"She threw up on the way here," Annie's mother offers in a hurried manner. Mike can tell she's losing her patience a little. It was understandable in a way. Based on her business attire, paint suit and black heels, Mike could tell that she had a full time job. And based on Annie's file, he had to also conclude that she was a single parent. Seems really difficult. Then again he didn't want to rush this, Annie comes first here.

"It was embarrassing," Annie whines, with watery eyes.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Mike says with sincerity in Annie's direction, still writing. He thinks back to the times "But these things have a way of working themselves out. It helps sometimes to-"

"That's gross," Annie mumbles, scrunching her nose.

"Yeah, it is," Mike agrees. "But, sometimes our bodies need to do that in order to get better. Does your stomach still hurt?"

"A little."

"How much is a little? On a scale of one to ten-"

"Excuse me, nurse Warren?" Annie's mom voices. "But how much longer is this going to take? We were waiting for a-"

"I'm almost done. I have to finish checking out her vitals, then the doctor will go over everything-"

"Mister nurse why aren't you a doctor? My mommy says only girls can be nurses?" Mike blinks, deciding on whether or not he should pretend he didn't hear the question. He's a little shocked at hearing it. Mostly because her mom seems to be the epitome of an extremely rich and successful business woman. What kind of role model was she to say that?

"Well, Annie, your mom was probably joking with you," Mike says, trying to save Annie's mother's bacon. Also attempting to undo some social damage. "Men and Women can be doctors or nurses. She was just joking Annie. Don't worry about it."

"No, I don't think she was joki-"

"Do you feel any dizziness at all Annie?" Best to change the subject now. Annie's mom looks like her feathers were ruffled a bit from the recent admittance.

"No," Annie answers.

He finishes his rounds of questioning and immediately after takes a record of her blood pressure, heartbeat…the whole works. Nothing strange came up, except that he heard a little wheezing as he heard her lungs.

This could just be a common cold. Mike would have to write in his notes his suspicions, but whomever Annie's doctor was got the final say. And apparently, it was his new roommate Paige. He wonders how he hadn't bumped into her yet.

"Feel better soon okay?" Mike says to Annie, as he rises from his seat after finishing his note taking. He stops to reach into his pocket.

He nabbed a few something things from a random office on his way here. He thought the items would come in handy when he saw from his files he'd encounter a younger patient today-

Annie's eyes brighten widely from viewing the items, as she gasps, "Lollipops! And STICKERS! thank you mister doctor!"

"You're welcome and I'm not a doctor-"

"Mommy look!"

"That's nice sweetie."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Jakes steps into his office to find two miniature boxes of his favorite cereal, along with two cartons of milk at his desk.

"What the hell," Jakes states, as his face scrunches into confusion. He picks up the cereal, examining it.

Why would-?

He turns the box around to find a sticky note on the bottom of it.

There's something scribbled on it-

 _'Until I can find a supermarket –MW'_

Now, who's-?

Oh right.

Jakes sighs, starting to feel a little annoyed with himself at not figuring this out previously.

He'd have to return the favor.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Yo, Warren!" Mike hears a familiar male voice shout in his direction.

He sees Jakes coming towards him, still serious, but not looking pissed off as he did earlier.

Guess the olive branch worked.

"Thanks for the replacement..I'm guessing Johnny had something to do with-"

"Um, no problem, I get it. Johnny is-"

"An idiot. And annoying as hell," Jakes finishes, with a small flash of a smile.

Mike is glad he understands the situation. He didn't need to make any enemies here. Especially over breakfast goods. Finding his office was tricky enough.

"So, how's your first day at GraceMed treating you?"

"Well, so far, I forgot my scrubs and almost ran a patient off-"

"I noticed," Jakes says. Mike deflates a bit. "Look, I bet you Briggs won't get around to showing you how to log into your account. Need some help?"

"Oh wow thanks," Mike says, very grateful for the help. He didn't think the most famous doctor slash agent in the Bureau would be so elusive. Then again, it came with the job…maybe.

The two begin walking in the same direction Mike came from earlier when he dropped off the cereal and milk. He was glad there was a janitor cleaning inside, otherwise he would not have gotten his peace offering in.

"Step into my office," Jakes says, stoically, turning around to open the door behind him. "Again."

They spend about five minutes getting Mike's account opened. So now Mike could log into his patients personal file, properly add the necessary notes, communicate with his superiors and coworkers…the whole shebang basically. Also, detailing any undercover work he may or may not be doing, but for his and Briggs' eyes only. He was on the fence about all of that now.

Being a nurse seemed like enough at the moment.

Then again…the excitement of going undercover flashes through Mike's mind. He wonders if he'll have a say in it.

"I guess we're even now," Jakes says, pointing a pen at Mike.

"I guess so," Mike agrees, wondering what was coming next. Jakes was right and really straight forward wow.

"You can go now," Jakes states, after a minute of looking at Mike expectantly. "Oh, and when I'm not in my office, neither should you be."

"Right," Mike says, getting up. Oops. "Thanks again."

Jakes just nods, looking back at his computer and pretending Mike wasn't in the room.

Mike walks out, not sure if he made things better or worse for himself with Jakes.

Only time would tell really.

~~~g-r-a-c-e-l-a-n-d~~m-e-d~~

"Am I actually going to do any undercover work while I'm here?" Mike muses, flipping through Charlie's undercover work plan. He'd been thinking about asking someone this all day. "Or just working mostly at the hospital?"

It's been hours since his first shift at the hospital. When he came home to relax and finally unpack he was almost rushed out the door again by Johnny. Johnny wanted to take him to the nearby bar or a Taco place or something but Mike passed on it. He decided to take a nap instead to catch up on the lack of sleep from his airplane ride from this morning. After waking up, he pulled out his paperwork from the day, settling on the couch. There were no signs of life anywhere…

Except when Charlie popped up out of nowhere with some snacks. She brought along with her the infamous under-cover work plans Mike heard Johnny mention when they talked about Donny.

Where was Donny anyway?

"Dunno, ask Paul," Charlie answers, settling herself next to Mike on the couch. "How was your first day?"

Mike thinks for a moment. He didn't want to sound ungrateful. Or bored. Or even too eager for what may or may not be coming next for him with this job.

"Not enough work for you..You bored?"

"I didn't want to say anything," Mike admits softly, smiling a bit. "It's enough-"

Even though he just met Charlie, he can already tell when her face shows disbelief.

Like right now.

It was pretty cute now that he thinks about it-

"Okay, I just…" Mike begins, as he places her work plan down. "I feel like there's more I can do-"

"I know what you need," Charlie says, leaning in.

"What?" Mike inquires, in a state of perplexity.

The smile she is giving him is very contagious. She was really similar to Johnny in that way. But the there was a big difference in how he felt between the two different people so far-

"Have you been on the beach yet?"

~~~g-r-a-c-e-l-a-n-d~~m-e-d~~

"Mikey! I thought you were gonna hide out all night," Johnny cheers from the other side of the campfire. "I mean Lev-"

"Nope," Mike interrupts, making a beeline to the empty spot next to him. He's still a little annoyed by the nickname. What was wrong with just calling him, 'Mikey'?

As he sits down he sees Briggs hovering over a red cooler, Jakes with him and-

"Charlie kidnapped you huh?" a blonde on the other side of Johnny asks with a grin, as she brings a bottle of beer to her lips.

"Something like that," Mike answers to the latest stranger he's stumbled upon today. She had to be-

"You ain't met Paige yet?"

"Johnny, let Paige introduce herself."

"I'm Paige," Paige says, lifting her bottle in greeting. "Hey. How was your first day?"

"Hey. And it was actually pretty cool-"

"Really?" Paige inquires in disbelief, taking a sip.

"Yeah, really," Mike murmurs. "Although, I did get lost a lot…and forgot my scrubs-"

"We noticed," Paige nods, looking around.

"Great," Mike sighs.

 _Good God_. Everyone saw him then? Well, this will be a day of his career they'll probably never let him forget.

"I can't believe you let me blame you for something that troll did," Jakes scoffs, as he settles down at the space next to Briggs. Charlie is on the other side of Briggs, right across from Mike, so he can't help but let his eyes sweep over her as he looks at Jakes speak.

Mike grins a little at the comment. Even though they got to a rough start, Jakes did seem funny in a serious type of way. At least he wasn't mad at Mike. He'd would have been glad to give him his space though. He knows what it's like to have your things messed with, or even not a have a proper outlet for your irritation when someone or something new comes around.

"Mike's not a snitch," Johnny offers, taking the bottle of beer that was passed down to him.

"Now, we don't know that for sure," Paige teases from the sidelines.

"Maybe I should be," Mike returns with a smile. "Or else-"

"Chill, you guys are besties now. See it all worked out," Johnny boasts.

"We're not there yet," Mike throws back, all in good fun. He looks back at Jakes to find him staring daggers in Johnny's direction.

"Shut up Johnny. You owe me another box of cereal for that stunt you pulled-"

"Let's give a toast to Mikey, it was his first day," Charlie interrupts. Mike smiles in her direction and she smirks as she raises her bottle.

"To Levi!" Jakes cheers, surprising Mike.

Wow, the cereal and milk gifts sure eased things over.

"Welcome to hell young man!" Briggs adds, laughing heartily at Mike's expression that followed.

"It won't be so bad…if you can keep up," Paige offers, raising her bottle with a smirk. She laughs at Mike's look of nervousness.

He never imagined himself sitting around a bonfire, drinking with doctors and his fellow nurses by the ocean.

What a crazy day.

"Yo, stop scaring him!" Johnny admonishes. "You can do it Mikey!"

"Don't let them get to you Mikey!" Charlie encourages.

"Thanks guys," Mike laughs, before throwing back his own drink.

Everyone continues laughing and talking in their own little circles, then altogether and then in their own little circles again.

This had to be the beginning of something beautiful.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"I keep finding patient meds missing, what the hell is this? Has old lady Gertrude gotten ahold of 'em again?" Charlie mumbles to herself, as she searches the medicine cabinet she was looking for. It's a new day with new aggravations. She was able to track down Briggs, give him a piece of her mind for yesterday's events when Mike arrived. She wasn't able to do it at the bonfire because they were all distracted with random conversation to take their minds off work.

"Miss. Palmer? She got discharged a month ago," Briggs says, with eyebrows raised.

"What? I feel like she's still here. Hiding her teeth in whatever glass is within reach and stealing people meds," Charlie adds with a shiver. That was one scary and creepy old lady. Not being racist was her only redeeming quality.

"How long ago were you missing those meds?"

"Like an hour ago. And then now-"

"How long has it been going on?"

"Like 2 months maybe? The amount missing keeps going up. It was so little at first for smaller medication doses...I didn't even notice," Charlie admits, feeling a little bad that she didn't say anything to Briggs sooner. He was technically her supervisor and also her friend. Evidently, he could trusted enough with this.

"Have you reported it?"

"Not yet, but I'm gonna. Whoever it is, is a sick son of a bitch tryin' to get me fired," Charlie groans, covering her face. She feels Briggs settle his hands on her shoulders. When she finds whoever is doing this, she'll wring their necks.

"Why don't you hold off on reporting it for now? Maybe I can find some more info on extra meds being put somewhere else first?" she hears Briggs say, as she uncovers her face.

"I dunno Paul. I'm not getting in trouble for not reporting this quick enough. I don't want Bello on my ass," Charlie says. It would be nice to put this in someone else's hands, and not be on the receiving end of their director Bello's hands.

"No, it'll be fine. You trust me right?"

"Yeah," Charlie answers, sighing a bit in relief.

"Okay. I'll put some feelers out and see what I can find Chuck. Don't worry about it," Briggs says with a smile.

She can't help but believe in him.

"Well, okay. This is in your hands now."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Johnny, what's on your mind? Why are you walking around here like Hector's closed down or something?" Jakes huffs finally. Johnny is just standing around with a sad puppy dog look on his face. Ever since Jakes saw him after his lunch break he was quieter and moping around. Now he finds him standing around in his office, peeking through his stuff.

The company was starting to grate on Jakes' nerves. He wanted some alone time. He'd been surrounded by interns all day before getting in touch with his resident patients.

"Um, you know those twins that came in?"

"You mean the brother and sister, in for the beatings? Yes, why?"

"Should we really be telling parents how to raise their kids man?"

Jakes thinks for a moment, wondering what the hell Johnny could be getting at.

Seriously?

"If it involves abuse, like beatings, then yes definitely. We'd get involved in spousal abuse, why not this?" Jakes counters, noting the impatience in his tone. He can tell there's something more to Johnny's questioning about this, coupled with the fact that he had difficulty staying in the same room with the kids once he found out what they were in for.

Although the hospital didn't get many child abuse cases, or spousal abuse they did their best to treat the physical and emotional trauma cause by it. The next step would be getting child protective service involved with these particular children, since they confirmed it was indeed abuse. It was obvious from the start, Jakes knew, but to be professional he followed protocol.

Johnny is silent for a few minutes more. He stares at the floor then turns his eyes at Jakes again.

"My brothers and I got beat like that by my mom when we were kids whenever we were acting up. We were some really bad-assed kids…and my mom was the only one who raised us. Like, _now_ its abuse? Now, I see all these kids coming to the hospital for the same thing and worse stuff? My brothers and I just…got over it?" Johnny continues, ogling Jakes expectantly.

"Did you really? Doesn't sound like it. 'Cause it sounds like to me you're resentful to the wrong people," Jakes voices, without wasting much time.

The truth of course hurt Johnny, as evident by the now sour look on his face. Johnny loved joking around a lot, yeah. However, based on what Jakes learned about him, for as long as Johnny worked here, he was really sensitive. Nonetheless, Johnny basically asked for this when he showed up unannounced in his office like this.

"I'm sayin' though, should I hate my mom or something? Maybe she didn't know it was wrong?" Johnny pipes up, looking at Jakes earnestly.

"Johnny, no one is saying you should hate your mom. Just, recognize now that it's a messed up pattern. It wasn't fair, okay? That's why we're here to correct that damage now for other kids," Jakes admits, making sure his tone wasn't too harsh. This was just too much backstory at this particular time for Jakes to take. He hopes he was helping somewhat anyway.

"I am kinda mad at her…I was mad at her. When I think about it, sometimes I think I deserved it...I dunno man," Johnny rambles, crossing his arms over his knees. The forlorn expression on his face makes Jakes' stomach turn a bit.

"That's normal to feel confused about it.… Look, Johnny do you need someone to talk to?" Jakes asks. He isn't sure he's the person to be talking to about this anymore. He can't imagine treating Daniel like the way the Louise twins were treated for their mistakes. Even how he was raised wasn't particularly bad in comparison. No matter how angry he may get with Daniel, if he ever had the chance to raise him with Cassandra, he still couldn't do it. Johnny would probably fair better talking to one of the psychiatrists or therapists here at the hospital. The bureau would keep it under wraps. Jakes knew that firsthand.

"Nah. I'm good man. Oh, speaking of, I got your report on the Louise kids. They're still shaken up. I didn't know what to say to them, so-" Johnny says, dropping two folders on Jakes' desk.

"I'll talk to them. But you should too...You're their nurse. They might think you hate them, because you left like a bat out of hell earlier."

"What?! I don't even know them! How could I hate them?!"

"Kids can sense that type of thing."

"Yeah. You've worked around kids enough. Longer than I have anyway," Johnny says, rubbing the back of his own head absentmindedly.

Jakes nods. He worked primarily in the Pediatrics ward when he first arrived at Graceland. Then he took over in the general area after he trained Paige to station there some time ago. So now he pops up there ever so often. Also, he hadn't been given much undercover work since he arrived at Graceland. And quite frankly, he's glad for it. Being a doctor at a permanent address was best if he ever wanted to see Daniel again. This was supposed to be less dangerous, then the Donny thing happened-

While in deep thought, Jakes doesn't notice the sound of Johnny rolling his chair beside him.

So he turns to Johnny in irritation to find him peering into his computer.

"What."

"Yo, why have you been busier than usual? I looked at your schedule-"

"Johnny, how many times have I told you not to look through my-what are you?" Jakes starts to question as Johnny hovers over him.

"Good talk. Hug it out?"

"Nah, Johnn-"

Too late.

Johnny's arms wrap around Jakes' neck and shoulder for an extremely unnecessary hug. One that lasted fifty seconds too many...At least in Jakes' opinion.

Not only that, Jakes doesn't like the weird glint in Johnny's eyes-

And especially when he begins aiming his mouth to Jakes' forehead-

Almost in lightning speed Jakes shoves Johnny's face away with one hand.

The hug was enough. Talk about getting carried away.

Jakes wasn't Briggs for godsakes.

He could save that mushy stuff for him.

" _What_ the _hell_ are you doing man?" Jakes questions sternly.

This little-

"My bad, bro. I just slipped—Got caught in the moment-" Johnny mumbles weakly. He backs away from Jakes' space, smiling faintly.

So he's back to his dumb gremlin antics again. Great.

"Well make sure it doesn't happen again. Get out," Jakes orders. "Close my the door on your way out."

"Okay. Okay-" Johnny says, getting up from his chair with a large smirk plastered on his face. He walks over to the door to shout, "Love you Jakes!-Man, you not even gonna say it back?"

UGH.

Jakes can't help but blame himself for this one.

Serves him right for being nice to this fool for once.

"Go away Johnny-" Jakes warns, focusing back on his computer. "Or I'll-"

He's somewhat computer savvy. So maybe he could mess with Johnny's lunch balance or something. Nothing too big…but then again he'd need someone to cover his tracks.

Forget it.

Too much effort.

"Nobody's scared of you Jakes," Johnny snorts, before scampering off somewhere.

Thank God.

Now Jakes can get back to-

His phone starts to vibrate violently across from him. The name flashing on the screen is unexpected and unwanted.

Dammit.

Jakes groans, "Are you serious right now?" as he looks to the ceiling for strength.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Did he pick up?" Briggs asks.

He's currently sitting in his superior's office. He just got the most unhelpful lecture ever on his team's timesheet discrepancies…among other things.

It was really embarrassing too. Briggs had some other things to take care of…like his patients. Also, he's sure newbie Mike needed some help somewhere. Seems like the perfect opportunity to get Charlie's good graces again for nearly losing her stuff. Maybe even find out more about the kid.

"No, he did not. I am losing patience Paul," his boss concludes, turning off his phone. His hair was shaven, he stood shorter than Briggs but that fact in no way made him less menacing.

"Bello, sir, I don't think you should lose patience just yet. He's probably busy," Briggs offers. He hopes he is. Whatever his reason is for not answering his phone right now must be pretty important.

"I do not have time for this," Bello says, as his eyes flick back up to him again. Briggs makes sure to keep his need to talk back in check.

"Let me make myself clear Paul. Do not waste my time again. This is the last conversation you and I will be having about this."

"Yes sir, now may I go?" Briggs asks with a small smile.

He didn't like this at all.

The days of his being on the receiving end of a 'don't let this happen again' conversation were long gone.

"You may go," Bello answers, with a wave of his hand. He then turns his attention to the piles of papers on his desk.

Briggs nods, rising out of his seat before strolling out of the door.

Once he's in the hallway he finds it somewhat quiet. He's about to head to his office for a nap, since it wouldn't be too smart to disappear home again.

"Hey Briggs!" someone quickly calls out, from behind him.

He turns around to find another one of his introverted roommates walking up to him.

"Lauren," Briggs smiles, staring down at her. She currently has a stony yet sad expression on her face. "Uh-oh, I know that look-"

"Yeah, well if you know it, then can you explain something to me?" she inquires impatiently.

Briggs tries to keep himself from smiling again. He thought this tough act she was trying to pull now was adorable. It certainly brightens up the annoying afternoon he's been having.

"I have a feeling you're gonna tell me," Briggs continues, leaning back into the wall behind him. Lauren huffs, breaking eye contact with him. He stares at her, watching her impatience to continue to unfold.

"This isn't funny Paul, you-"

"Is this about the inquiry into Donny's cases?" Briggs guesses in seriousness. The look on her face tells him that he is on the right track. "Lauren, we have talked about thi-"

"It's not only that Briggs. He-"

"He's what?" Briggs prods. He starting to not like where this is headed. Donny was being kept in at a secret area where he was being treated for the wounds he sustained that day. Only a few doctors, all of the directors and security team members knew about it. Even fewer of the group actually knew where he was being held. Briggs was one of the lucky ones holding onto that information.

"Lauren, tell me," Briggs says, getting worried now. The aura Lauren is sending off gives him even more pause. What could possibly be-?

"Donny…He's missing Paul."

* * *

six chapter update woot~

I wanted to update with alot of chapters since I've been kinda slacking on this story last month.

I'm glad people are enjoying it!

I'll update again soon, thanks again~


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Uhhp! Put it in the swear jar!"

"What? No! What did I-?!" Mike sputters. He covers his mouth, already on the defense and a little freaked out Paige popped up out of nowhere shoving a large jar in his face.

Less than a minute prior Mike burned his mouth on a steaming cup of coffee, when he let out a barely loud, "Oh shit!" at the burning contact.

How did Paige even-?!

Mike knew this was her floor. He was helping out as a hanger on for today instead of being in the ER again. While waiting for her to show up he made himself a cup of coffee to wake himself up. Last night's get together ran a bit later than he thought. Now he had a full shift to worry about.

"See, you can't even lie about it can you? I heard you say one of the big three in the kids ward. That's four nickles. Twenty pennies," Paige rattles off, a little too cheerfully for Mike's taste.

"But I'm new here-"

"Uhhhppp! No buts. two dimes in the jar Levi. Lets go."

Mike shook his head from side to side in disbelief as Paige quirked an eyebrow jangling the jar closer in his face. The staring contest lasted for a full minute before Mike broke it off. He begrudgingly stuck his hands into his pockets, rummaging around. He removed them to find a few quarters. He picked one out, dropped the rest in his pocket, before depositing the remaining 25 cent piece in the jar.

"Here. Keep the change."

"Thank you," Paige smiles sweetly, as she jingles the jar. She turns on her heels and walks off in the opposite direction.

"Paige got to you too? She got me for 10 bones once," Briggs muses from behind Mike.

Mike jumps out of his skin, whipping around to find Briggs standing behind him with a 'Isn't that something?' look on his face.

"Whoa!"

"My bad man. Didn't mean to scare you. Whatcha up to anyway? I see you're not in the ER today."

"Getting robbed," Mike snorts. What is Briggs doing here anyway? His floor was a few floors up, right? Or down. He seemed to be somewhere he wasn't supposed to be a lot. And why was he acting like he didn't know Mike was supposed to be on this floor today?

So many mysteries.

"Yeah I can see that, other than that I mean…Hey listen, you want something to do?"

Mike turns to him slowly.

"No tricks?"

"None are up my sleeve this time, no."

"What's going on?" Mike asks impatiently. He was starting to feel excited now. Damn that coffee from hell, this seemed to be much better. Also, where did Paige run off to?

"Mikey-boy, I need your help with a little something."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Hah, Paige got you? You can't be too mad though. You know that money goes to charity, right?" Johnny says, folding up a piece of paper into a miniature football.

"What? Uh, no I didn't. I thought the government paid for everything here?" Mike answers, eyes wide in confusion. For some reason he's carrying a box, and standing instead of sitting next in the empty chair next to Charlie.

She really wishes he would sit.

"Psh, no. They can only do so much. Cheapstakes. Anyway, what you waiting here for?" Charlie chimes in, while turning the page of her magazine. She was at front desk duty again when Johnny showed up, with Mike following behind him, carrying a box.

"Briggs told me to wait here for something," Mike answers, looking around. Charlie watches him thoughtfully. He looks a little tired. Probably because of last night's bonfire.

Their motley crew didn't have one run that long in a very long time. Since the Donny incident, they didn't have a chance to get together like that to unwind. It was nice to have an excuse to do so with a new guy in their ranks.

"You got chose?"

"What?"

"Don't listen to him. So, Paul has you doing a mission already?" Charlie continues, without lifting an eye from her magazine. She flicks her eyes upwards to see Mike looking back at her. She smirks slightly in recognition and he gives her a goofy grin in return. "This is what you wanted right?"

"Well, I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be doing. He just told me to pick this up-"

"Seems better than what I'm supposed to be doing today," Johnny sighs, placing a finished paper football into a pile of other footballs. "And doing tomorrow."

Charlie stares at him blankly and Mike follows suit.

How could he be so carefree?

"And what's that exactly?" Mike questions.

"Huh?"

Charlie shakes her head. She has a better idea on how to pass the time now, well before Briggs locates Mike. "Let me see your phone."

"Me?"

"No, you look pretty busy over there," Charlie refers in sarcasm, making Johnny laugh. She turns her attention to Mike again.

"I'm talkin' to you Mikey," Charlie asserts, holding her hand out. "Hand it over."

She hides her smile at the way Mike is watching her in apparent shock. After a second, he places the box he held down at the desk before reaching into his pocket for his phone. He pulls out a similar phone to Charlie's own, holding out in front of her.

"Hand it over," Charlie repeats, for the third time.

What was taking him so long?

Did he have porn on there or what?

Wouldn't be that shocking of a thing to see on a guy's phone though.

"Uh."

"Got something to hide Mikey?" Johnny teases, sitting closer to Charlie now and abandoning his arts and crafts.

"Am I gonna get it back?" Mike asks her quietly.

The sweet expression on his face almost makes Charlie pinch his cheeks.

So cute.

"We'll see," Charlie goads, with a shrug. The petrified look on Mike's face almost makes her laugh this time, but she manages to keep the urge at bay.

She sees him debating with himself on what to do. And before she could even say another word about it, Johnny reaches up and snatches the tech from his hands.

"Hey!"

"Taking too long son!" Johnny cackles, holding the phone away from Mike's reach. He takes out his own phone, lying it side by side with Mike's.

"Johnny, we don't snatch things from people's hands," Charlie lectures, trying not to sound too pissed off.

This kid.

It was rude of him to do that. But also, Charlie didn't want it to go about it this way. Now she won't be able to put her number in first. She's doubtful that Mike got anyone's contact information the day before.

"You ain't make any friends yet Levi?" Johnny quizzes, as he looks through Mike's phone and taps in information near the contacts list. Charlie sneaks a peak to find only names unknown to her and Johnny.

"I haven't had the time to. This is only my second day here. Now, would you please-"

"Hold on, I only gotta put in Paige's and Chuck's digits and I'm done," Johnny mumbles, inputting said information from what Charlie could see.

Charlie looks up at Mike, to see any reaction. The only one she got was Mike casting a sideways glance at her.

She wondered if he is attracted to Paige or not. She initially wanted them to meet, because maybe they'd be cute as friends or something. Who knows?

They wouldn't be able to date each other though, based on hospital and Graceland house rules-

Now, there was this business with the swear jar. The little encounter probably offset Paige's chances a little bit. If they were going to dive into that territory that is.

"Don't be mad at Paige," Charlie says, and she is a little surprised by the bewildered look on Mike's face. As if he wants to explain himself. "She means well. Just don't drop any f-bombs in the kids ward if you like your wallet to stay full. Capisce?"

"Got it," Mike says, with a nod.

"There you go," Johnny pipes up, as he tosses Mike's phone back to him. "Text us anytime. Now you won't be so lonely."

"Don't throw it Johnny," Charlie scolds, nudging him in the side. "And maybe he wants to be alone sometimes. There's nothing wrong with that."

She noticed this at the bonfire last night. Mike interacted with everyone a few times at some point. Then there were long periods of time he just observed, talking in everything. Charlie couldn't help but admire that about him. Although rare, there were times where she felt that way too.

"Thanks," Mike murmurs, searching through his phone. Probably making sure Johnny didn't get too curious with his settings or something. Charlie couldn't blame him for that one.

Charlie suddenly hears someone whistling from down the corridor. Mike, Johnny and herself turn to find Briggs strolling towards them, carrying a box identical to the one Mike has.

"What's up nurses?," Briggs greets, casting a cheerful glance at everyone.

What was he so happy about?

Charlie hopes he is taking care of this missing pills thing. She's still a little jumpy about it, even though it's not in her hands anymore. Anyone else in her shoes would be relieved…but she can't bring herself to think that way.

"What's in the box?" Charlie asks, staring straight into Brigg's eyes. He stares back, not revealing a damn thing as usual.

"Boxes, yeah. What's going on?" Johnny questions.

"Nothing for you to worry about right now," Briggs says, with a small smile. It was one of his infamous 'reassuring' smiles.

And it irritates the hell out Charlie, instead of reassuring her. She wants to press further, but decides against it. She'll get Briggs alone eventually.

"I have your _thing_ ," Mike says, picking up the box he had earlier.

What are they even up to?

"Thank you for that. Now, come with me," Briggs confers, with a nod. "Seeya Chuck, Johnny."

"Yo, where you taking him? Can I come?"

"Bring him back in one piece or else Paul!" Charlie makes sure to warn. She isn't sure she likes the way Briggs has taken to Mike. It was almost a lackey-grunt type of thing, if Charlie didn't know any better.

Wasn't Mike supposed to figure his own way around? At least that's the dribble Briggs gave her as an excuse for not showing him around the hospital yesterday.

"I'm bored Charlie," Johnny groans, resting his head on her shoulder. She pats him on the head and thinks for a bit. The hospital around where they were is pretty empty.

"Wanna get lunch?" Charlie offers, after looking at the time on her phone.

Time passed so quickly-

Thank god.

Now that she thinks about it, she also sorta misses Mike's company. There was nothing wrong with being in Johnny's company, obviously. It was just nice having him around to keep her sane…

Which was a strange thought, because they only met yesterday.

"Your treat?" Johnny inquires, stretching out his limbs.

"Sure, why not. It's the FBI's dime not mine."

* * *

I just want to say quickly thank you for the 1100+ views on this story! :D I was so happy when I saw that so many people are reading this. I'm trying to get better at updating this on a consistent basis again when I upload chapter chunks. Please bear with me on that lol. If anyone has any illness/diseases patient ideas please let me know. I can include them later on after I finish up what I have planned already. Thank you for reading this~ bye for now.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The house seemed to be empty of any of her roommates, except for a familiar form dozing on the couch.

Paige crept over to it, smirking a bit to herself at finding half of Johnny's body nearly off the couch.

He seemed content nonetheless.

Currently, she was taking care of paperwork at home before needing to head to the hospital later that night. She was taking over Briggs' shift and relieving Mike of his floater duties for the night.

Speaking of-

Mike had been here for weeks now, seemingly fitting like a glove at the hospital. Paige could tell he was trained very well, and he was a fast learner. Now that she thought about it, Mike seemed a little quiet too. He often hung out with Johnny, Charlie and sometimes Briggs. Not much herself. Earlier on though, she had to make sure to apologize for 'robbing' him the other day with the swear jar. It was partly her fault for not telling him about it at the bonfire, but she saw an opportunity and took it. Nonetheless, she pointed the general rules of the kids ward so it wouldn't happen again.

She requested him more often in the past couple of weeks to help her out. Strangely enough, her department, along with everyone else's in the house were becoming a bit understaffed. Which meant that newbies like Mike had to float around to pick up the extra slack. Paige hopes that Bello and his associates and the other directors of the hospital, would get their acts together so patients wouldn't have to suffer from lack of staffing soon.

"Johnny," Paige calls out. She nudges his dangling leg with her toe. "You're not asleep are you?"

"Uh, yeah?" Johnny says, in a manner that screams 'duh!'

"Good, I need to talk to you for a second," Paige hurries. She sits on the coffee table, leaning over so that she faced him better. "Are you busy this weekend?"

"Girl, I don't know. Why?" Johnny huffs, squinting as he clings to the wooly blanket that hangs halfway off him. The fact that he's shirtless under there distracts Paige for a second. "You running an op?"

"I have some free time after my shift, so I'm going shopping."

"You serious? I'm not carrying your bags again for you Paige," Johnny mutters. "People keep thinking we're a couple."

Paige blanches for a second, but recovers with a forced chuckle.

And what's so offensive about that-?

Okay, she had a tiny crush on him before that developed into something more.

He's never known that though. The two of them being a _thing_ was something that would never happen. Something that could never work.

They were co-workers, roomates ectr. They had rules against that.

Well, _Briggs_ had rules about that, _for them_. Rules of which were created to keep all of them focused on their hospital and/or undercover work when it came around. Most of the time Paige agreed that there needed to be something like that put in place.

She's sure it embarrasses him a split second because he wants to flirt with girls while they're there. With Paige around it has been difficult for him to do so. Johnny said once that they were too intimidated by Paige's presence. Thus, being scared away.

Paige chose to take that as a compliment.

"It's not that-Listen. You can help me-"

"Nah, Paige."

"I'm picking out a new bathing suit. You can help me since Charlie's busy at the hospital this entire weekend-"

And she didn't have any other gal pals. She wasn't that close with Lauren even though she shared a room with her. And since Johnny was the only one around, why not? They haven't hung out in awhile. Donny used to hang with them too…That is until he got hurt. She hopes he's recovering well wherever he's being housed.

"Good for you," Johnny mumbles into his pillow.

Damn. That should've worked.

Paige just wanted to hang out, like old times.

She swears she's got her crush under control now.

Definitely.

"I'll buy you some Hector's when we get back?" Paige sing songs, pulling his ear lobe.

"How much?" Johnny says, sitting up a bit. He still looked slightly sleepy, but somehow more awake than he did at the earlier part of their conversation.

Of course…she should've suggested that first.

"Er, how much of what?"

"Food. How much of it are you willing to buy for my friendship services?"

"We shall see when we get there," Paige responds, smiling instantly. She appreciates the lopsided grin Johnny returns to her. "Is that a yes or no Johnny?"

"Okay, P , okay. See you next weekend babe," Johnny yawns after a minute, then drops his head into his pillow again.

Paige covers her mouth to stop an out of character giggle that wants to escape. To further stop herself from doing something even goofier and foolish produced by the giddy feelings in her chest, she gets up from the table to return to her room upstairs to get some much needed paperwork done.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"John, get off my bedddd-!," Mike whines, keeping his head in his pillow as Johnny hops up and down on his bed.

There has to be an off chance Johnny will leave and Mike can get more shut eye. He deserves it after the tiring last couple of weeks he's been through. He's been at Graceland for almost two months now. This was a rare occasion Mike got to sleep in during the morning. He doesn't have time to play now.

"What's the matter?" Johnny crouches down, hovering over Mike. Mike can feel his face inches away from him. He then feels Johnny's hand slick over his hair before settling a palm on his forehead.

What the heck is he doing?!

He hears Johnny immediately suck his teeth as he removes his hand.

"Dude! You ain't sick!"

"I never said I wasss-!"

"Man up and get up! Paige wants to play football," Johnny says, hopping down from the bed.

Football, with just three people?

Not worth it.

And a doctor playing football with two nurses…?

Sounds like a setup to a bad joke.

"NOOOO Johnnnnn,"Mike moans, burying his head further in the pillow. Even though the pillow is covering his face he can decipher the sound of Johnny's footsteps padding around his room. Then the sounds of the opening and closing of his dressers.

Mike lifts his head up, blinking groggily at the fuzzy form of Johnny coming towards him.

"She's got a new bathing suit!" He drops clothes in a heap on Mike's back. "Totallly worth it."

Still not worth it…maybe.

Nope. Still not.

He wasn't really attracted to Paige that way really. She seemed cool but…nah.

Now, if Johnny instead had said a certain _other_ somebody had a new bathing suit-

Then they could talk.

"Up! Mikey, dude, get your ass up!"

"Seriously, John, I have paperwork to do later I can't-"

"I don't wanna hear a grown man making excuses Levi!"

"Then go AWAYYY!"

~~~g-r-a-c-e-l-a-n-d~~m-e-d~~

Mike ended up drifting off to sleep again, even with Johnny being the loudest alarm clock ever. When he finally awoke, no trace of Johnny was around and an hour had gone by. Not only that, there were piles of clothes scattered around Mike's bed.

"Dammit John," Mike huffed at the time.

Just as he sat up, he almost knocked his eye out from the corner of a box resting on his pillow. He picked it up to find the words, "Learn Español~ The Complete set" typed in large yellow font across it. He smiles to himself a bit. He started to feel a little bad for not joining in with Johnny and Paige. Maybe next time.

Afterwards, he gathered his bearings, heading downstairs to type up patient reports.

A little while later, Mike hears laughter bursting through the front door and making its way to where he is in the living room. He looks up from his paperwork to find Paige and Johnny, both sun kissed, out of breath and carrying long boards.

"Missed you out there bro," Johnny says, flopping down beside him on the couch, after placing his surf board near the stair case. Paige does the same before walking around to settle down on the opposite side of Mike.

They both smelled like the ocean, in a clean breezy sort of way. The pang of regret Mike had earlier starts again. Just a little. The cool air inside the house made him feel somewhat lazy in getting his work done. So, evidently he didn't get not one page of it completed. Maybe the air would have done some good.

"Next time, I promise," Mike answers, hoping the two believe him."How was it?"

"Yeah?" Johnny says, stretching. "We're holding you to it Mikey."

"Levi," Paige corrects with a snide smirk. "And you would know how it was, if you were there-"

"Oh yeah. I don't think he likes it when I call him that though," Johnny says, looking through Mike to make eye contact with Paige.

"Really? hmm, I'm second guessing it myself to be honest," Paige muses.

"Guys, I'm right here," Mike laughs, wanting to sound serious, but obviously failing to do so. The duo just sneer at him and he feels trapped.

"We can see your whiteness just fine Mikey."

"Um, where do you think you're going? Sit down," Paige says, pointing back where Mike was starting to rise from.

"What? Um."

What did they want?

"We have to have a talk," Paige continues.

"A _serious_ talk," Johnny punctuates.

"Stop bothering Mikey. Let him work," Charlie scolds, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

Mike isn't sure if he's grateful of it or not. Paige and Johnny seemed to be harmless. He didn't want Charlie sticking up for him like this so much. Even at the hospital-It was nice. Only sometimes. She overdid it other times.

"He was bothering us first," Johnny lies.

"Johnny don't lie to my face." Mike could see Charlie crossing her arms, even though she was directly behind him. He's gotten to know her pretty well in the time he's been here.

"Both of you came over here first," Mike expounds, earning sour looks from Paige and Johnny.

Oops.

"Tattle tale!" Paige mock gasps.

"Right?! After I vouch for you at the bonfire that one time," Johnny sighs. "And got you those Spanish language tapes? Forget you Mike Warren."

Mike looks at the duo in disbelief, although there's some part of him telling himself to lighten up a bit because they were obviously joking.

As if on cue, Johnny and Paige begin assembling away from their spots on the couch.

"Guys, c'mon," Mike offers.

He actually liked their company sometimes. Also, he is really curious about what they wanted to talk to him about.

"Now we're not gonna tell you, what we had to tell you-"Paige squeaks, shaking her head sadly. "Maybe later." Johnny laughs as he and Paige continue their trek up the stairs.

Mike sighs but he nearly jumps out of his skin when he feels Charlie squeeze his shoulders, before sitting down next to him.

He turns slowly in her direction, smiling even though she has a somewhat serious expression on her face.

"Hi," Mike greets.

"Hello," Charlie responds. She nods towards his paperwork. "How long do you think that's gonna take?"

"I dunno, why?" Mike almost snorts. Wasn't she just shooing away Paige and Johnny for interrupting his work?

Not only that, why was everyone acting so mysterious around here today?

Briggs was missing. Mike wasn't sure where Jakes was, probably at the hospital…who knows?

Lauren…she's barely here at the house. And when he does see her, she's about to leave Briggs' side. She gave him hard stares every so often when she made special appearances at the house. Other than that, she mostly kept to herself and Mike made sure to respect that.

"Mikey, you wanna go for drinks later?" Charlie suggests.

Oh.

"Well-"

"You haven't been to the Drop yet have you?"


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Jakes sees from across the bar all of his roommates all in various states of their own drama.

He's glad that he's not part of it whatsoever.

That doesn't stop him from seeing it all unfortunately.

Across from him, he sees Johnny staring at Charlie nervously every so often. Probably feeling guilty about what went on earlier tonight at the hospital.

Johnny wanted to introduce Charlie to the Louise kids, Theresa and Robbie, resident patients whom Jakes and Johnny have grown attached to the past couple of weeks, to her. When they caught sight of Charlie, they ran screaming and crying out of the room due to the fact that she resembled their mother quite a bit. Charlie stomped off crying and-

Well, she was sad for awhile. Based on what Jakes saw now Johnny is too afraid of saying anything to her.

Then there's Mike, Graceland's newest roommate and nurse.

Jakes thought he was okay. He minds his business, usually, and Jakes appreciates that. He also got his work done at the hospital and picker up any other overlapping weight that needed to be picked up.

From what Jakes could see, Mike was having a hard time keeping his eyes and cheesy smiles away from Charlie, who returns them with curious glances as she sips her beer. Johnny ignored it and continues to ramble on about whatever, while Paige ogles Johnny most of the time. It was a really strange octagon going on within the house and Jakes was glad he wasn't part of it. He briefly wonders if their coworkers notice enough-but then he stops caring about it again.

Before he knows it, Johnny and Paige point out a random girl from across the bar to Mike, who's been staring at him and giggling with her friends all night. Mike goes into a 'no, no she's not looking at me-' ramble. He sees both Johnny and Paige speed walk over to the girl, to Mike's obvious embarrassment, chatting her up about Mike perhaps.

How couldn't they see the boy had it bad for Charlie? Probably pawing him off to someone so they didn't cast suspicion on one of them being with him. Jakes wasn't too sure if Charlie even knew how-

Before he knew it, Johnny is walking over to him after looking at his and Paige's 'handiwork' of setting up Mike with a non co-worker.

"Hey-whoa, you okay?" Johnny inquires, looking all over Jakes' face.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jakes asks, furrowing his brows. He did start feeling a little under the weather about an hour ago. But Charlie dragged him out of the house anyway so they could all spend time together. There were times Jakes wanted to look for a hookup, however, this wasn't one of those nights. So, he kept to himself mostly so far.

Without realizing it, Johnny has placed his palm on his forehead to check his temperature.

"Dude, you have a fever," Johnny frowns, as he removes his hand. He leans in closer to Jakes, placing a hand on his shoulder while still watching him in concern. "You wanna go home?"

"Nah, I'm good. Back up," Jakes stresses, narrowing his eyes at Johnny. It was starting to feel a little warm in here and Johnny playing nurse to him wasn't helping.

"If you keep hanging around me, the girls are gonna think you're gay," Jakes informs him. "Again."

"If I was, what makes you think you're my type?" Johnny fires back, flicking one of Jakes' stray dreds off of his shoulder.

"Stop touching my dreds before you pull back a nub," Jakes threatens. He takes a sip of his beer, while ignoring Johnny's mischievous grin. Beer was starting to become tasteless unfortunately. "And, last time I checked, I wasn't Lauren. So bounce."

Johnny's face deflates into a scowl. "Man, _shut up_!"

It was no secret to Jakes, and most of the house, that Johnny had a crush on Lauren. Jakes wasn't sure if he did anything about or not. But from what he saw, their relationship just stayed friendly and platonic on Lauren's end. Johnny was like this extra annoying love-sick puppy trying to make her laugh all the time or sitting with her or- yeah just generally being around her. Not that Jakes cared or anything.

And speak of the devil, Jakes sees her rushing towards him out of the corer of his eye from the entrance. While she comes towards them, Jakes also sees Paige get a nervous look on her face from across the room before jogging over.

"Johnny, Johnny, hey-"Paige says, taking him by the arm to lead him away from Jakes. "There's a girl that wants to-"

Jakes tunes the rest of her, and Johnny's protesting for that matter, out as Lauren stands next to him.

"Where's Briggs?"

"Over there, somewhere," Jakes answers simply, not sure if he was right or not. He saw him chatting up doctor he recognized from the hospital, maybe.

There was also the fact that Lauren and himself aren't that close. They have a sort of mutual respect for each other however the lack of communication between the two usually. Even with that, he's noticed she's been out of the house more often and jumpy lately.

"Did you know?" she whispers. Jakes notes the urgency in her voice, which gives him pause.

"Know wh-" Jakes starts, and then is promptly interrupted by his own coughing. He covers his mouth before taking a spare napkin off the table to cough into. He begins to think that it's probably best he get back to the house to sleep off whatever he was starting to come down with. "Know what?"

"Donny-he's-"

"Lauren, hey. What are you doing here?" Briggs asks, from behind them. Jakes doesn't even blink at the way he's materializes out of nowhere. "You don't usually-"

"You said you'd give me an answer about where-"

"Lauren, I said I'd help you but-" he gives a quick glance to Jakes before looking at Lauren again. "I think we should talk about this outside."

Jakes just watches the scene unfold before him curiously. What the hell could they be talking about? And did she mention Donny?

"No, Paul. I need-"

"Lauren, let's just go outside-"

"Hey, yo what's going on?" Jakes finally asks, feeling a sense of alarm rush through him along with a weird ache beginning in his side. Yeah, he definitely needed to get out of here. But first this…He hasn't heard of Donny's condition since his shooting. His location is unknown to him, except Briggs and a few other higher ups. "Something happen with Donny?"

"Nothing for you to worry about DJ, my man," Briggs says, giving him a quick smirk before turning his attention back to Lauren's frazzled state. He waves towards the door and Lauren gives him one last look of rebellion before leading the way out of The Drop.

"You know, DJ, you don't look so good. Maybe you should head home," Briggs suggests, giving Jakes a worried look and a pat on the shoulder. As he heads out Jakes takes one last sip of his beer and saunters over to Charlie.

"Hey, I'm-"

"You don't look good at all," Charlie breathes, putting her glass down. She cups Jakes' face and her frown deepens. "You're burning up."

"I'm just gonna sleep this off," Jakes confirms. "I'll be seeing you-"

"Want me to come with you?" Charlie asks.

"Sure," Jakes shrugs. He didn't mind her company at all.

He sniffs then coughs into another napkin he nabbed on his way to where Charlie's sitting. On the way out of the bar, he's prays that this is allergies or a quick cold, although all the medical training he's had is screaming towards something more severe.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"Did I just hear you coughing?" Mike asks, peeking his head in Jakes' office. Jakes holds in the urge to sniffle and cough again. He feels so much worse than he felt two nights at The Drop.

"D'Noh."

"What?"

"I said _NO_. I'm wasn't coughin-" Jakes loses his resolve and begins coughing haphazardly all over his desk. As a result, Mike's eyes widen in horror. And to Jakes' horror, Mike scrambles over to him adjusting his stethoscope, as he pulls a thermometer out of his pocket.

"I need to see if you have a fever."

"I bet that line works for all the girls huh?" Jakes hears himself joke. He feels his brain going a little fuzzy, which is not at all a good thing.

Jakes was starting to regret coming in for work today. He didn't want to fall behind in his work and have Bello and his fellow cohorts sniffing around his office or his roommates. All of them, excluding Mike who had not arrived yet, had to be taken in for questions when their timesheets came up 'incorrect' awhile back. He didn't want Bello in his face again.

"Huh?" Mike questions, pressing the bottom of his stethoscope to Jakes' chest. Jakes can tell he's trying not to laugh at him. Or maybe he's genuinely confused.

"It's a joke," Jakes states.

"Right," Mike says warily. He sticks the thermometer in Jakes' mouth before listening to his heartbeat.

Jakes is grateful for it because he isn't sure what else will come flying out of his mouth next. The meds he took were starting to kick in now. But for some reason his breathing was getting worse-

"Why are you at work today anyway? Aren't we allowed a day off when we're-"Jakes cuts him off with another coughing fit. He can tell there's still a lot of congestion building up in his chest too. Also the dull feeling he felt in one of his lungs was starting to get worse...most assuredly with his breathing. If he had to take an educated guess he was coming down with pnuem-

"You have pneumonia," Mike concludes. "And probably exhaustion too." He frowns as he puts away his stethoscope and thermometer. He places his hands on his hips while looking sternly at Jakes.

Jakes can't help it, but the vision he has of Mike is starting to get a little blurry.

Oh no.

"You're a doctor, you need to take better care of yourself, man. I know you don't wanna hear this but you might need to che-"

"Johnny...tried to-" Jakes hears himself say, all before the floor disappears from beneath his feet and his vision goes dark.

~~~g-r-a-c-e-l-a-n-d~~m-e-d~~

"-said you tried to kiss him and then he passed out."

"WHAT? _AND_ you believe him? Can't you see he's a sick man Mikey? And also a little liar obviously. If anything, he'd tried kissing me-"

"What the hell-"Jakes moans, coughing as he sits up. As he thought, there's Mike and Johnny hovering over him.

"Oh, patient's awake," Johnny says. He points at Jakes as he continues, "Jakes, you spreading rumors bro?"

"Shut u-" Jakes wants to begin, but hacks away the rest of his sentence with coughs. He finds an oxygen mask covering his mouth. He blinks and he realizes he's lying in a hospital bed.

A hospital bed specifically at his place of work.

"Am I-?"

"Still at work, yep. Like you wanted," Mike nods in irritation with a sigh. He straightens the charts he held, scribbling down notes. Johnny sits on the bed looking down at Jakes curiously.

Jakes narrows his eyes and then sighs. UGH.

"Dude, you actually wanted to stay at work? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"He's dedicated. There's nothing wrong with that."

"There's a big difference between being dedicated and being stupid-"

"Could you take him and not bring him back? Seriously?" Jakes croaks, shifting in his bed. Johnny just smirks down at him.

"No can do. I'm your nurse bro."

"Who let that happen?"

"Your other nurse, Mikey here." Jakes rolls his eyes as hard as possible at Mike.

"I'll remember this-"he warns softly, coughing a few times.

"Huh?" Mike replies, probably acting as if he didn't hear him. Jakes can't bother to figure that out right now.

"Of all the nurses in this hospital, you couldn't get someone else besides him? Is he the last one left?" Jakes mutters. "You can't do this by yourself?"

It surprises him that he was able to get the entire sentence out without coughing. He smiles a little in satisfaction at this small victory.

"Yo, what's he smiling about? Let's knock his ass out," Johnny declares, reaching for meds on a nearby table.

"John, no! We can't! We have to observe him-"

"What are you two doing in here?" Charlie calls out from the hallway. She walks further into the room, narrowing her eyes at Mike and Johnny.

"Johnny, take off Dale's coat _now,_ " she scolds, as she places a nebulizer machine on a nearby table.

Lo and behold Johnny was wearing Jakes' coat, with his ID pinned under his own ID.

"You're wearin my-?!" Jakes grits out

"Here baby," Charlie removes his oxygen mask and replaces it with a nebulizer's mask, starting the machine

Now he has three nurses fussing over him and no doctor in sight.

Besides himself, but that's obviously no good at this time.

"I didn't know he had asthma," Johnny comments, looking back at Jakes with worry.

"I don't think he does. Doesn't say so in his medical history," Mike murmurs, looking at Jakes and then back at his chart.

"It happens sometimes. With the weather. And someone not taking care of themselves," Charlie corrects, looking pointedly at Jakes. "If it's not in his chart that he has it, then he doesn't. The Nebs is just to clear up the phlegm better." She reaches out and rubs Jakes' arm. Jakes can't help but feel grateful for her contact.

"My bad," Jakes admits. He felt the need to apologize for inconveniencing everyone. Even though it was their job. They all cared about him and that wasn't too bad of a thing.

"Do NOT do this again," Charlie warns, looking deep into Jakes' glazed over eyes. "You got me?"

"Yes ma'am," Jakes answers.

She then bends over the bed to kiss his forehead. Afterwards, she places a hand on the same spot, looking at Mike and Johnny in confusion.

"Why are both of you in here? He doesn't need three nurses. Scram."

"What-But I found him-"

"And I helped put him in the bed-"

"And stole my ideni-KOFF-"

"Okay, Mikey you can stay. Johnny, go back to the house and get some of Jakes' stuff and some juice for him. The good kind back at the house."

"Tch, I don't wann-"

"I don't want him touching my shi-KOOF HACK-!"

"Okay, switch. Mikey go to Jakes' room and Johnny go get some juice from the fridge at home."

"He's not much better," Jakes drones. He really doesn't want any of them snooping around in his room. Except maybe Charlie. But then again, that was a bit of a stretch.

"Gee thanks," Mike says sarcastically, as he places Jakes' chart back in its holder. "Oh and you're welcome for picking you off the floor and diagnosing you."

"Thanks," Jakes relays, giving a faint quick smile in Mike's direction. He frowns again just as fast. "Now get out-"

"You heard him Mikey," Johnny ribs.

"And take Johnny with you," Jakes says, as Johnny reaches for his dreds to play with. He feels better than he did earlier, but still too weak to smack Johnny's hands away. Johnny looks hurt. Too bad.

"Don't be like that. I do care about you man-"

"Johnny, do as I said," Charlie urges, pulling him off of Jakes' bed. "Go."

"I can't Chuck. You need supervision-"

" _I_ need supervision?" Charlie says in astonishment, pointing at herself. "Since when?"

"I thought she went over your head. Hasn't she been here longer than you?" Mike pipes up with.

"Dude, so what?"

"What do you mean, 'so what'? You don't think I'm in charge of you two?"

"Me too?!" Mike gasps.

Were they being serious right now?

"I'm just sayin-"

"Somebody order a doctor?" Briggs inquires, peeking his head into the room.

"Jesus Christ," Jakes groans, closing his eyes.

And on it went. Four of Jakes' roommates hanging around his room, chatting, and being generally annoying. Then Paige skipped in, unhelpfully adding to the chaos. Jakes expected better from her, but oh well, now he knows better.

Hours pass when Briggs starts telling a really dirty joke about a three legged jockey. When he gets to the-you know _that part_ , Jakes eyes drift close. He feels a warm hand on his forehead before he loses consciousness for the second time today.

"-We didn't kill him...did we?"

"Johnny, back to work."

"Okay, okay. Feel better soon bro."

"You gonna kiss him goodbye?"

"Shut up-!"

"Outside you two."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"You mad at me?" Johnny asks, staring sadly Charlie. "Chuck?"

Charlie looks up in recognition at the sad pup looking down at her.

He's referring to the incident that happened a few days ago when two child resident patients, Theresa and Robbie, ran off screaming after they saw her face.

"It would've been nice if you gave me a heads up or something," Charlie mumbles, trying to busy her eyesight with the wall across from her, instead of Johnny. "You know."

"How was I supposed to know? I didn't even know how their mother looked until after that happened."

"So what, she hasn't asked to even see them? It's been like three months now. I would've figured even the hospital would bring her around for paperwork signing."

"Well, she almost beat them unconscious…just because they left their toys out. Based on what I saw in their reports, she isn't allowed to be around them for the rest of their lives unless they want to, when they're older."

"Well, good. And I'll stay outta their way then," Charlie continues, a little harsher than she meant to sound.

She loved being around kids in the hospital. It was relaxing almost, to both the kids she saw and to herself. The adult patients she was usually around were almost always a pain in the neck. She'd never encountered a problem where abuse child victims have actually mistaken her for their mother. It was a disheartening situation all around.

"You're not mad at them are you?" Johnny inquires. Charlie looks at him again, finding worry in his gaze.

"Course I'm not mad at them. Or you. I'm mad at their crazy bitch of a ' _mother_ ' for putting them in here-" Charlie huffs, slamming her magazine, folders down and around. She shakes her in aggravation as she feels a well needed rant coming on. "Treating them like they're not human. Like they can't make mistakes! For _goddamn_ _toys_ not being put away?! The only thing they'll will remember of their mother is what she did to them, for the rest of their lives and thinking they deserved it…Her ass should be locked up and see how she'll like getting bea-"

" _Chuck_ ," Johnny interrupts, shaking her gently to soothe her. "She was locked up for awhile. But she's just…the court found her like not right in the head so she's-"

"What, claiming she's on meds or something? And forgot to take 'em?! Of course she's not right in the head but that doesn't mean she shouldn't be serving time. That pisses me off!"

"Yeah, you and me both Chuck. She was way too hard on them," Johnny says sadly.

Out of reflex, Charlie takes hold of his hand and squeezes it.

"Sometimes they get real quiet and won't talk to Jakes and me. They just shut down," Johnny murmurs, then runs a hand over the back of his head. He smirks at her sheepishly after a minute. "Other times they're happy and won't stop asking me to make paper footballs for them to throw around for me and Jakes to play catch with them."

"That's sweet," Charlie admits, letting herself smile. That definitely makes her feel a little better.

So that's what was with the little arts and crafts session Johnny had the other day.

"I care about them, but if I see another paper football…I dunno know what I'll do," Johnny groans, but chuckles right after. "I keep asking them to ask for something else for me to make. But they always want paper footballs."

"You know you love it. You and Jakesy taking care of kids," Charlie goads. "It's cute."

She can't help but feel proud of how far Johnny has gotten with his career here.

At first, when he arrived at Graceland he was kind of naïve, nervous and insecure even with his great skills…then he drove into the class clown role. He was messing up a little too much until Bello sat him down and put him on probation. He tightened up his act, but he got better at hiding his goofy side once the probation was all over with.

"Hey, it's part of the job," Johnny adds, and Charlie doesn't believe him. He goes above and beyond for the patients he treats. "Now, we just waiting on the Courts decision on what to do. I can't lie... I'll miss Theresa and Robbie when they're gone. We're not sure when that'll be. And their dad, you know, died in a fire before they were even born. He was a firefighter. They don't have any other relatives around here."

An abusive mom and no relatives in sight? At least they had each other.

Charlie nods, as she watches Johnny in concern. He's gotten quiet on her for a few moments.

So, she reaches out, pulling Johnny into her side for a hug.

"You gonna be okay?" she asks him. She wishes she could go and ask the Louise kids the same question. And give them the same gesture...but she doesn't want a repeat of the other day.

Johnny stays quiet for awhile before moving away from her.

"I'm good. See ya around," Johnny says, over his shoulder as he walks away.

"Stay outta trouble," she adds, but pulls him by the arm to her desk again. "It's not your lunch break, so I don't wanna see you visiting Jakes with the kids. Again."

"How'd you kno-I mean, I won't. Cross my heart," Johnny recovers, having the audacity to be in a state of bewilderment. "Straight to work. Yeah. "

Charlie gives him a small smile, not believing a word he's just said yet again. While she was visiting one of her patients, she caught Johnny carrying the twins down the hallway to Jakes' room. They were probably worried about where he's been for the past couple of days.

"I'm serious Chuck. The kids are asleep anyway. Paige doesn't need me on her floor. I have a new resident to check-in on vitals anyway."

"Okay," she answers, and releases him. He bends down to kiss her temple, smiles and jogs away to where he needs to be.

Hopefully.


End file.
